1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to touch screen based systems, and more specifically to supporting navigation of visual elements organized in a fixed number of dimensions in such systems.
2. Related Art
A touch screen refers to a display screen, which responds to touch based operations (e.g., touch/tap, drag, swipe, pinch) of users using one or more fingers, stylus, etc., and facilitates user interfaces with applications based on the operations.
The displays on touch screens often contain various elements. An element refers to a distinct entity (e.g., an icon, hyperlink, graphics element, etc.) that is usually visually demarcated by appropriate visual attribute (e.g., color, texture, border lines) on the display.
Displays are often populated with elements identified in a fixed number of dimensions. A two dimensional matrix, with each entry at the intersection of a row and a column, being one of the elements, is an example of such an organization. However, elements can be identified in more dimensions (e.g., 3 or 4), without such clear correlation in display. An example of such a display is a stacked bar graph, in which the same measures (e.g., profits from 3 different segments in one dimension) are displayed for multiple time points (e.g., annually for several years).
Users often wish to navigate across different displayed elements. Navigation generally entails selection of a next element, after having interacted with a present element. In general, such navigation is required to be convenient for the user.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.